Gotta be flexible
It’s been a month since I sat in the ThoughtWorks San Francisco office in middle of the Financial District of San Francisco knowing little that, the following week I would be in Thinking Cup, a coffee shop, on the outskirts of the Leather District in Boston, MA, writing the draft of this post.
I’ve fled the nest and getting a taste of the traveling #consulantlife with a commute to the Beast Coast to build software for my current project. I’ve been afraid of taking on this role. That initial shock of shifting routines is always hard for me to digest for a few weeks. However, travel has been exciting! I love to wander new terrains and experience the difference in the thriving masses that inhabit cities.
I’ve been doing well so far in finding my groove. Safety and security for me comes in finding a routine. I quickly learned this at the beginning of my ThoughtWorks career. That adventure began in Raleigh, NC, a week in Chicago, IL, and a final 5 weeks in Bangalore, India.
Within the first week during my stay in Bangalore, I found my gym, Gold’s Gym, surprisingly, and picked up my lifting schedule where I had left off. I also find comfort in making a time and having a mental space where I could cook dinner and think about the events that had occurred that day. So, I felt lucky in having a kitchen and finding my favorite grocery store, vegetable stands, and butcher within the neighborhood we lived in.
The move to San Francisco was a reverse culture shock. I felt that I was just getting settled into Bangalore by the time it was time to go back “home.” The stress was amplified given the knowledge of the difficulty (in 2013) of finding a place to live. That only took a month, and I found my little space of comfort in the Mission. Four Barrel and Dolores Park played a big part in my location choice and any time I return from a trip, I fall in love again.
My Boston routine is coming to fruition, finding the groove and the routine has been a game in a way, and I sense that I’ll have a lot of great opportunities to explore here. Apart from working with a new team, a new client, in a different domain, there were a few routine things I had to compromise and get used to, such as being able to maintain a morning workout routine and working 4, 10 hour days, but things are starting to fall into place.
In the last month I’ve:
- visited 12 different coffee shops in the Boston area.
- joined 2 gyms. Brooklyn Boulders and Boston Sports Club.
- attended a ReactJS meetup.
- bought a bike! from Bikes Not Bombs and have biked around 40 miles.
This weekend is my first weekend in Boston and it’s off to a great start. After climbing outdoors in Mt. Saint Helena over Napa Valley last weekend, I had been hoping for the next chance to do it again. To my surprise, the night before my fly back east, I found a meetup group that was planning to drive up to New Hampshire for the day today to climb at Rumney Rocks. The world-renowned destination was on my climbing bucket list and I’m glad I was able to go. In addition, I’ve made some new climbing friends and looking forward to the future outdoor opportunities to come.
Getting over jet lag on a weekly basis has been lagging behind. Despite my nightly average of sleep being a hour less, the promise of traveling adventures keep me going. I’m lucky to have the option of going back home to San Francisco on the weekends, but also having the option to travel anywhere else within budget will make this summer completely undetermined. Vamonos!